NEW YORK – World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder has condemned the “barbaric and terrifying” car-ramming attack that took the lives of at least four people and wounded more than a dozen others in Jerusalem on Sunday, and extended his deepest condolences to the victims and their families. Lauder also demanded that the Palestinian leadership do everything in its power to root out incitement to terror and put an end to such attacks.

“It is unbearable to see more Israeli lives deliberately cut short in a barbaric and terrifying act of terror, for daring to walk in the streets of Jerusalem. On behalf of the more than 100 communities represented by the World Jewish Congress, I condemn this heinous attack. Jews around the world are standing in solidarity today with Israelis, in this time of terror of fear. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families.

“In Gaza, Hamas is already gruesomely celebrating this attack, calling it heroic and handing out candies. It is incumbent upon the Palestinian leadership to root out the incitement to terror that continues to spread among its population, infecting its youth with the hunger to destroy Israelis and Israel itself. The Palestinian leadership must condemn this attack and all others in the harshest terms possible, and make it clear to its youth that carrying out such acts of terror is a cause for severe punishment, not celebration. How many more lives must be destroyed before we can finally put an end to the bloodshed?”

At least four Israelis were killed when a truck plowed through a crowd in the Talpiyot neighborhood of Jerusalem. The terrorist, a resident of East Jerusalem who was recently released from jail, was shot at the scene.